oil paintings of fantastic creatures

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Jill the border collie monitors progress on a commission I’m working on while ratties get a chance to explore outside their cage and hunt for hidden peanuts. I’m excited to be quite busy with Christmas pet portraits!

“As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: ‘Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!” — Revelation 8:13

This painting, from my 2013 “Mark of the Beast” show, was a bit of an outlier. Instead of being inspired by scripture, it was inspired by its name, which I thought was hilariously dramatic for a little gecko. I am happy that a good friend bought the painting, which is one of my favorites, so it sort of stayed in the family.

“When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.

‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted. ‘Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?’

Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, ‘If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.’

He said to them, ‘Go!’ So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.”

From my 2010 “Alaskan Bestiary” show. From a Tlingit story about a wolf father that loaned out his son to a hunter. The son and the hunter were a successful team, until the hunter began to get stingy with sharing the bounty.